Big Sky Biggie tests riders with ‘some real mountain biking’ 

Event’s sixth year highlighted by optimized courses, ideal weather 

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

The Big Sky Biggie cross-country mountain bike race is seriously hard, and commands serious respect from its riders.  

For 2024, the punishing 60-mile course was shortened to a still-punishing 50 miles, and the 30- and 15-mile options aren’t designed for leisure, either.  

Race Director Natalie Osborne said people weren’t afraid to sign up for the 50-mile course. This year, 129 riders attempted it, up from 100 riders in the 2023 60-mile race, and 81 in 2022.  

“The 60 was really challenging, super challenging, and it scared a few people away,” Osborne said during the event on Saturday, Aug. 17. She said the 50-mile course is “still one of the hardest courses in Montana, so it’s no walk in the park, but it just allowed us to reach that many more people.” 

Overall, the 2024 event had roughly 600 riders, a slight decline compared to 2023. This year, the Biggie was scheduled one week earlier than usual to avoid conflict for Big Sky locals involved with the softball tournament, which was ultimately rescheduled as well. Next year, the event will take place on Aug. 23, back on its typical schedule.  

The six-year-old event continues to make a name for itself, attracting new riders like 47-year-old Emma Maaranen. From Bend, Oregon, she was the top female in the 30-mile race with a chip time just over three hours and 11 minutes.  

It was Maaranen’s first time mountain biking in Montana. She found the Biggie community to be impressive and supportive, and loved the trails.  

“You guys have something really special here,” she said.  

Maaranen said the Mountain to Meadow descent felt like a roller coaster, roughly halfway through the 30-mile race. She tackled that section alongside a couple men, and they were hooting and hollering the whole way down.   

“It was hard to remember that we were even racing, it was so fun,” she said. 

Maaranen praised the entire course, noting the “grindy climbing” and a few “old-school single-track” descents. Toward the end, she was humbled by climbing the Ralph’s Pass switchbacks. 

“Oh my gosh, it was so fun,” she said. “The very first single-track climb was surprisingly stout, and I was like, ‘oh, we’re in for some real mountain biking today,’ which was totally my jam.”  

‘Man, this event rocks’ 

Caleb Swartz, 25, of Missoula, has won the Biggie’s longest race in both years he entered, 2023 and 2024. This year, he took the 50-miler in just over four hours and 14 minutes.  

Swartz said last year’s Biggie was one of the hardest bike races he’s ever done in 16 years of racing—10 more miles and a muddy course. This year, he said the trails were “primo.”  

He found the Mountain to Meadow and Coolridge descents to be “super groovy,” and the 14-mile loop of second and first Yellow Mule to be “heinously hard.”    

To add to the pain, he made a wrong turn about eight miles in, costing him a handful of precious minutes and sending him from first place back to eighth.  

“So then I had to basically chase back all day long,” Swartz said. But he caught up.  

“Man, this event rocks. I think they said this is the sixth year, and they’re crushing this race like they’ve been doing it for 20,” he said, a nod to event organizers. 

It’s an event carried by helping hands and “incredible” sponsors, Osborne said.  

She estimated 60 race-day volunteers in addition to roughly 20 crew members who help leading up to the event. She thanked six safety agencies: bike and ski patrollers from Big Sky Resort and the Yellowstone Club, Gallatin County Sheriff, Spanish Peaks Security, Big Sky Search and Rescue and the Biggie EMT crew. 

Osborne gets emotional seeing her friends involved, and entire families racing. She said the race has become a community of its own.  

“The way the Bozeman and Big Sky communities—and Missoula and Helena—have all adopted this race as their own… fills my heart. It just makes me feel so good that they feel like they can count on this race,” she said.  

The 50-mile female winner, 37-year-old Kait Boyle of Victor, Idaho, had never ridden in the area before. She was impressed by the showing of roughly 600 people at a six-year-old event.  

“That’s incredible, and I think that just speaks to how great of a job Natalie is doing at continuing to evolve it based on, presumably, people’s experiences,” she said. “And it seems to be working.” 

Boyle noticed the course felt surprisingly remote while riding Big Sky Resort’s Coolridge trail.  

“I think oftentimes with ski areas you expect it to feel more manicured, but those felt more like raw backcountry trails, which are my favorite,” Boyle said. She loved the Yellow Mules loop, especially the “epic” views from Buck Ridge, and appreciated the relentless switchbacks on Ralph’s Pass.  

She finished in five hours and five minutes, winning with a brace on her recently sprained wrist.  

‘Not a cloud in the sky’ 

The Biggie appeals to hardcore adults, but the 15-mile race opens it up to more casual riders—and the hardcores of tomorrow. 

Twelve-year-olds Owen Axelson and Tommy Nelson are middle school riders in the Bozeman and Gallatin High School bike programs. They made their Biggie debut in 2024.  

For their team, they’ve done much shorter races, closer to four miles. But they weren’t overwhelmed by a race three-times longer—they simply adjusted their pace and got the job done. 

Nelson said the 15-mile course was really fun, but he preferred riding on dirt and technical downhill sections. 

“The uphill on the asphalt was difficult,” Nelson said. Axelson agreed. The first four and a half miles were an uphill battle, climbing paved roads near the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club area.  

“Great to be up here,” Nelson said, a few minutes after finishing and dropping his bike by the team tent. “The weather was great today, not a cloud in the sky.” 

Osborne said the two sunny days leading up to race day dried out the course, and race day was the best forecast in about three weeks.  

“We couldn’t have gotten any luckier,” she said.